Trigun: Raymond The Mankiller
by American-Wizard
Summary: A new bounty goes out for the man known as the Devil in a Black Trench Coat, Raymond the Mankiller. He is known for turning into the Angel of Death and killing any amount of people.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer for this and all other chapters:  
I don't own Trigun or any of the characters or locations, I do however own Raymond the Mankiller and all his evil goodness. 

**Roundhouse**

Wearing a black trench coat the young man with short, black hair entered the sheriff's office in the town of Roundhouse. The sheriff was at his desk, leaning back in his chair, half asleep. The man stood there, silent, waiting. He cleared his throat but still no answer. After a few minutes he slammed a piece of paper onto the desk waking the man up as he fell backwards. He quickly stood up, picked up his chair and sat down.

"Sorry about that, it has been a slow day", said the sheriff with a yawn, "Anyways what can I do for you?"

"I want to place a bounty", said the man with a deep, cool voice.

"Yes? And who would that be for?"

"A man named Raymond. His nickname is Raymond the Mankiller. And the bounty I want on his head is.." The sheriff fell backwards in pure shock.

"Are you sure that man is worth that much?" The man nodded, turned and left. Before he got the door the sheriff asked,

"Hey, what is it that makes this man so deadly?"

"He his known to randomly start killing anyone who is around him and he will not stop until he runs out of bullets. Aside from that he is an Ace Gunman." With that, he left.

**January**

Vash sat on a park bench looking at the gray sky. Nearby stood his two friends, Meryl Stryfe and Milly Thompson looking at a bulletin board.

"Why look at this Milly", said Meryl "Derringer" Stryfe.

"Oh, it looks like our friend Vash is not the highest cash in", replied "Stungun" Milly. Vash fell over and ran over to them.

"What? What are you two talking about?" asked Vash the Stampede.

"Here", said Meryl as she held up a wanted poster. "

Raymond the Mankiller", read Vash out loud, "A insane killer, Raymond is known for entering a city and wiping out entire populations in a matter of moments. The bounty on the head on this killer is….". He dropped the poster, "150 billion double dollars".

"He must be a real weirdo to have that big of a bounty on his head. I wonder if the Bernardelli Insurance Agency will have us reassigned?", said Milly out loud.

"I wonder if Knives if behind this", thought Vash, "I need to calm my nerves". With that he slinked off to find a bar.

"Meryl?"

"Yes Milly?"

"Vash left again"

"Do not worry about that knuckle-head, he wont find his way out of this town. A maze surrounds it so that intruders cannot get in".

"If you say so"

Vash slugged down another glass of cold beer, then fell backwards onto the dirt floor. He closed his eyes and sighed. When he opened them he saw a young man in a black trench coat; the stranger sat down at a table and ran his fingers through his short, pitch black, spiky hair. He ordered a drink. The waitress walked over scared and set the glass down. The man simply looked up at her with his deep black eyes and smiled. She quickly ran away. Vash walked over to him.

"Is this seat taken my friend?", asked Vash.

"No, it is not. Go ahead Mr. Stampede", said the man in a calm, cool voice. Vash quickly sat down and asked in a quiet voice,

"How did you know my name?"

"A young man with short, blond hair, wearing a red trench coat. It would be hard not to know who you are", replied the man taking a sip of his drink.

"Well", said Vash, "Did you know that 210 billion double dollars is sitting at this table right now, Mr. Mankiller?"

"So you know who I am?" "Yes Raymond. I have a knack for knowing people". Vash then ordered a drink.

"Did not expect to see you in this town", said Raymond.

"Why is that?"

"Well let us see, you have a history of destroying towns named after months and this town is called January. There is a high possibility that these people will not be here tomorrow", said Raymond as he took another sip of the drink. Vash jumped up and yanked Raymond out of his chair, holding him by his collar and looking into his eyes.

"Is that a threat or merely a warning?" shouted Vash angrily. Raymond looked into his eyes and smiled.

"Vash, you are making a scene", he said coolly. Vash threw him back, ran his fingers through his hair and slinked back into his chair nervously.

"I.. I am sorry about that", said Vash apologizing.

"No problem", said Raymond smiling, "What I meant is that I cannot control myself".

"What? Wait, you mean how you got your nickname, Mankiller?" asked Vash.

"Yes", said Raymond with pain in his eyes.

Why is he telling me all this? It is almost like he trusts me with his life and we just met, thought Vash as Raymond continued.

"Ever since I was little I have had this thing wrong with me. There is this one thing that I have yet to pin point that causes me to lose all sanity and kill everyone around until I am taken down or run out of bullets, and no one has taken me down yet".

"Then why carry bullets at all, or at least not as many", suggested Vash.

"They just appear", replied Raymond sadly.

"What?"

It was silent, there was no noise at all except for a little girl laughing outside. Suddenly Raymond's arm shot out and the glass fell slowly to the floor. It shattered and the sound of breaking glass seemed to echo into eternity. Then Vash heard a cry in his head.

/Please, run now. I do not want you to get hurt/, cried out the voice.

Vash caught the glow in Raymond's eyes. It was almost as if the man that he was sharing a drink with was now gone and in his place was a demon. His eyes went from deep, cool black to fierce, violent red. Raymond rose slowly and pulled out two handguns. He turned them sideways and started firing.

Vash crashed through a window and slammed into the ground. He was about to get up when Kuroneko fell down on top of him. Vash moaned and started crying.

"Why does everything bad always happen around me?" he asked out loud as the wall near him blew outwards. There stood Raymond the Mankiller. People that had been wandering around the town square stopped and looked at him. "No please, everyone run away!" screamed Vash as empty shells fell out of Raymond's handguns as he quickly reloaded. The people did not even have a chance as Raymond held up his handguns and started firing. Meryl and Milly were at a shop buying some dinner when they heard the gunfire.

"Meryl, what is that?" asked Milly, who ducked down behind Meryl.

"Do not worry Milly, it is probably just Vash showing off to another girl", said Meryl calmly. Suddenly Vash ran pass the store and another man ducked inside.

"Excuse me, but what is going on out there? Is that Vash the Stampede causing all the noise?" asked Meryl.

"I wish it was Vash the Stampede, rumor is that he has never killed anyone before", said the man, shaken, "No this man is different. He wears a black trench coat and has pitch black hair. His eyes were as red as the fires of hell and he is using a pair of silver handguns, he is killing everyone in the town! If we do not get out of here quick, we are all dead!" The shop keeper nodded.

"This way, youngins", said the old lady as she opened up a secret door in the ground behind the counter.

"This is a way out, we should be ok if we leave now", she said quickly as she ushered Milly, Meryl and the man out. Vash walked slowly into the center of town. There were bodies everywhere and standing on top of the statue in the middle of town was Raymond, his arms crossed and the handguns pointed in the air. Smoke slowly rose out of the barrels as his head was down. Vash walked to the base of it and looked up.

"What the fuck was that?" he asked angrily, "They are all dead! Who gave you the right to decide who lives and dies?"

"I was born with that right", said Raymond quietly.

"No, no one was born with the right to murder innocent people", shouted Vash as he fired a shot up at Raymond. It hit part of the statue causing Raymond to jump down, spin around and place the barrel of one of his handguns against Vash's head. Vash gasped as he saw that Raymond's eyes were still red.

"Who are you?" asked Vash.

"I am the Mankiller, Vash the Stampede. I was born with divine rights to kill", replied Raymond whose finger slowly pulled the trigger….

----------

"It is quite sad when someone is killed but when Raymond went as far as to lay waste to an entire city just because something triggered a bad memory he drove me to cry tears of anger. Life is not something you can just throw away. Life is a gift, a gift I choose to protect, protect with my life" Episode 2: Fallen Angel


	2. Fallen Angel

"It was almost as if, in the blink of an eye, they were all gone. The man in the black trench coat, the Mankiller, had claimed another town as a knot on his belt. Another hundred people dead due his guns. I could see it in his eyes as he held the gun to my head, I could see the evil that killed those people and the pleading man inside trying to escape. As he pulled the trigger I wonder why he let me live"

Fallen Angel

**January **

A breeze of cool desert wind blew gently across the ground. Raymond stood there with the barrel of one handgun pointed out, smoke came out of the end, while the other one was aiming down. Vash lay in the red desert dirt looking up at the light blue sky. He stared up at the light blue sky and blinked, sighing. He closed his eyes for a few seconds then he slowly opened them. Sighing once more he pushed himself up with his elbows and looked over at Raymond. Raymond lowered his handgun and fell to his knees. With a big sigh he fell forwards into the red desert dirt. Little clouds of red dust flew up around Raymond's body. Vash slowly pushed himself up so he was sitting up and leaned forwards, pushing himself onto his knees and finally up onto his feet. He slowly stumbled forward and fell to his knees, right next to Raymond who was able to roll over onto his back. Raymond slowly opened his eyes and coughed, the red dirt was on his left check. He slowly reached up and wiped it off. Just across town Meryl and Milly exit the shop keepers secret basement alone with the man and the old woman. They all gasped as they saw them. Hundreds of people were laying all over the town, dead, shot dead. "How can this be?" asked Meryl horrified, "Who could have done all of this? It is as if every single person in this town is dead except us. Could it have been Vash?" "No Meryl, do not think that. Vash does not kill people", replied Milly. "Vash? Vash the Stampede is here? Then he is to blame! He is the whole reason why my entire family including my cat is lying dead on the street!" yelled the man. Suddenly Kuroneko landed on his head, falling off the roof. Kuroneko yawned and meowed. "Oh, so my cat survived, but that is not the point!" The man quickly ran back inside the shop and came out with a double barrel shotgun. "I am going to kill that demon once and for all", shouted the man as he ran off. Meryl and Milly chased after him.

Vash stood, frozen in fear as Raymond held the barrel of his silver handgun against Vash's forehead. Vash moved as quickly as possible, falling backwards onto his back as Raymond fired. He then realized the delay that Raymond had when he fired his final bullet. The bullet purposely missed it's mark but skinned Vash's chin. The bullet had flew across the way and ricocheted of a steel pipe. It then flew sideways and hit a little girl in the back of her head, killing her instantly. It was as if Raymond had done what his bounty said he would do, he had killed every single person in the town, aside from the few hiding. Raymond slowly stood up and brushed the red desert dust off of his black trench coat. He then reached out and helped Vash the Stampede up. He sighed and smiled looking at Vash, reaching up and shielding his eyes from the sun. "What? Do I have something on my face?" asked Raymond laughing. Vash could not help but to laugh as well. Suddenly Raymond fired a bullet into the shadows.

The man's eyes were wide open as he dropped his shotgun, it went off as it hit the ground but it hit no one, for there was really no one to hit everyone was dead. Meryl ran over to the little girl with the bullet in her head, the last bullet to be fired off Milly pulled out her stungun and aimed it at Vash and Raymond who had both stopped laughing and looked over at them. The man was hit in his upper chest so he wasn't fatally hurt. Tears ran down Milly's checks. "Mr. Vash I want you to tell me the truth, who did this?" asked Milly sadly. Vash slowly pointed at Raymond and Raymond raised his hand. "How could you do this?!" screamed Milly as she fired off three shots at Raymond. Raymond quickly pulled out his hands guns and fired six shots, he had somehow managed to swipe some bullets from Vash. Two bullets hit each stunner bullet sending it off coarse and crashing into nearby buildings. Raymond put his guns away and spoke. "Hey you shouldn't destroy the buildings, that is Vash's job" Vash and Meryl fell down.

A little while later they were all back in the bar. Vash and Raymond sat drinking and laughing as Milly and Meryl watched them. "Meryl does this seem weird at all to you?" asked Milly as she slowly sipped some hot tea. "I don't know Milly, I just don't know. It is almost like they have known each other for years but one of them just brutally murdered everyone in this town. I don't get this at all", replied Meryl as she and Milly cringed as the old woman pulled the bullet from the man's chest. When they opened their eyes they gasped as they saw that Vash and Raymond were gone. "Where did those two idiots go?" asked Meryl as she ran outside.

Outside at the edge of the town Raymond and Vash stood at the entrance of the town's maze. "Uh how do we get out of here?" asked Vash as he looked at the maze. Raymond scratched his head and yawned. "Well since there is no reason to have this maze here to protect dead people, we should just blast our way through", said Raymond as he pulled out his handguns and aimed them at the stone wall. "Uh Raymond you do know that you are using metal bullets to try and blast your way through stone right?" asked Vash. Raymond smiled and aimed his guns. "Who says I am using normal bullets?" asked Raymond as he opened fire. Blasts of many colors shot out of his handguns, pounding into the walls destroying all of them, making a passageway out. "Well then", said Raymond as he put away his guns, "I guess it is time for us to go". With that he left the city, Vash picked up his stuff and followed. "That attack, those bullets", thought Vash as they walked, "The light looked so familiar, why can't I place where though?" "Hey slowpoke, any slower and you'll start gathering buzzards", shouted Raymond who had somehow gotten a lot further ahead. Vash freaked out and started running hard and fast with his head down. "Wait for me!"

**500 Iles from February**

Clouds of dust formed in the air as Nicholas D. Wolfwood, the traveling preacher, rode his motorcycle across the desert. The hot desert sun beat down on him, but he remained cool, unblinking behind his black sunglasses. He sighed as he revved his engine and tore off across the desert towards the town of February. It had been just about a month since he last ran into the bumbling baboon called Vash the Stampede and honestly he was getting worried. Not that he cared about that idiot or something but he was worried about the girls. "That moron always gets into trouble and I bet that he had something to do with the destruction of January. I know he does not kill people but an entire town was killed within maybe hours. He has to be involved somehow", thought Wolfwood and he gazed off into the distance. "Him, or Knives"

**January**

Local officers from neighboring towns arrived in January three hours after Vash and Raymond left. Meryl and Milly were still in town when the police arrived. They were both questioned along with the old woman and the man. Milly sat inside one of the empty houses across from a young officer, her stungun sat in the corner. "So please tell me what happened", said the officer. "Well me and Meryl", started Milly when the officer interrupted, "You mean Meryl Stryfe?". "Yes, me and Meryl had arrived in town with Mr. Vash. When we got here we noticed the new posters and saw the Mankiller's notice. After a few minutes Mr. Vash had lurked off somewhere, probably a bar or something and me and Meryl went shopping." "Wait do you mean Vash the Stampede was here?" asked the officer excitedly. "Yes, Mr. Vash was here but he did not do anything.." "That is enough questions for now Ms. Thompson you may go now". Milly smiled, picked up her stungun and left.  
"Now Ms. Stryfe what is your relations with Vash the Stampede?" asked the Commanding Officer. "Me and my friend, Milly Thompson are agents for the Bernardelli Insurance Agency and we are assigned to keep a close eye on Vash in order to make sure he does not cause anymore damage", replied Meryl calmly. "Well then it seems like you have not been doing your job. There are about six hundred bodies found lying on the streets, dead", snapped the Commanding Officer back. Meryl rose and slammed her fists into his desk. "Now you look here", she said with anger in her eyes, "I know that Vash may not have the best reputation but you know that he has never ever killed a single person. This is not like him. He would not kill!" "Calm down missy, then who did all of this?" asked the Commanding Officer. Meryl stood up walked over to the wall and ripped a poster off the wall. She slammed it down on the desk and the man gasped.

**100 Iles from February**

A gun shot rang out across the desert. Raymond sat inside the remains of an old car with his eyes closed. When he heard the shot he slowly opened his eyes. There stood four ruthless looking men. The leader was a big guy with long brown hair. He stood at 6 foot 7 with blue eyes and a scar running across his left cheek. They all wore dirty, ragged clothes and looked as if they have not eaten in days. They all had automatic weapons except for the leader who hand an AK-47 and a black handgun. "Are you the one known as Vash the Stampede?" asked one of the men. Raymond yawned and stretched. "Actually no, he and I got lost about two hundred miles back, towards January. Which was quite odd since there's no place to really hide, aside from this junker I found. Why did you ask and wake me?" "We are sorry for waking you Sir but we need to find and capture Vash the Stampede for you see we are in desperate need of the money. Our crops have dried out in the harsh heat and now we are left with no money or food. Our friends and families are starving and we can use the bounty on Vash the Stampede's head to buy food", said the leader as he began to turn away. "Where do you think you are going?" asked Raymond. The leader turned around. "What do you mean Sir?" he asked as he looked into Raymond's burning red eyes.

"I still do not understand you people. You say you want something yet when it is told to you that the one that you are seeking means very little because the true gold mine is sitting right in front of them", said Raymond quietly to himself as he closed his eyes once again and thought of what just happened. "Why must you go for the smaller fish?" asked Raymond as he pulled himself up, "Or do you not know who I am?" "Who are you?" asked one of the thin men. "My name is Raymond the Mankiller and I am worth 150 billion double dollars" "150…billion?" asked the leader stuttering. "Yes 150 billiondouble dollarsand you are about to learn why", replied Raymond as he pulled out his hand guns.A few moments laterhe was sitting back in his shell of a car resting and thinking. Blood was all over the ground and some was even on the car. Four bodies lay face down in the dirt.

**February **

Vash literally crawled into on his belly. He had wandered the dessert for hours with no food or water and somehow he lost Raymond in the sand. "How did I lose him?" asked Vash sadly, outloud, "We were in a desert and some sand blew up. One moment he was there the next he was gone" He then heard a mew, looking up he saw Kuroneko holding a canteen of water in her mouth. Vash smiled and snatched the canteen from Kuroneko and chugged it. "Wow you are thirsty. Where are the girls Mr. Vash?" asked a tall man with a large cross slung over his shoulder. Vash squinted and looked up. "Well well well, if it isn't Mr. Preacher Man. Last time I saw Meryl and Milly was in the town of January", replied Vash as he stood up. "January? You mean the town where the entire population was killed in a massive slaughter? The very same incident that many people claim you did", said Wolfwood. "What? They think I killed people?" asked Vash panicked. "Yeah that is what I heard" "But it was not me" "Then who was it?" "Hello boys", said Raymond as he walked over to them.

"Raymond when did you get here?" asked Vash. "A few minutes ago. Who's your friend?" Raymond asked nodding towards Nicholas. "Oh, Raymond this is Nicholas, Nicholas this is Raymond". Raymond smiled and held out his hand, Nicholas also smiled and shook his hand. Suddenly five cars roared into town. "I wonder what is going on here", said Nicholas outloud. Men started firing into the air, a small man pushed to the front of the crowd. "We are looking for two men. Vash the Stampede and a new killer known only as Raymond the Mankiller. These two are wanted for the devastation that occurred in January". Raymond and Vash looked at each other then backed away slowly, leaving Nicholas there rubbed his head. Kuroneko meowed.

"Fear can make people do the strangest and stupidest things ever. When a man sees Raymond in his regular face as a threat he would go as far as risking the lives of the children around him. The Mankiller was more of the town's children's playmate instead of a violent killer. It was not until a small child explained the situation to me, then I saw who the real Raymond was"

Dark Hearts

-------  
Yes this new update came on a little fast but that's because I already had this chapter ready to go, expect things to slow down and speed up depending on what's what. I have a month before college classes start up again so let's hope things go smoothly.


	3. Dark Hearts

**February**

"Bang, Bang, Bang", said Nicholas D. Wolfwood as he sat on a bench pointing at some little children. The children looked at him blankly. Nicholas looked at them for a second then fell backwards off the bench. The children giggled at him falling off the bench. He smiled, took out a cigarette and lit it. "Children these days, they laugh at the strangest things", he said with a sigh as he blew out a ring of smoke. He closed his eyes and sighed again, inhaling. He blew out some smoke and felt the wind against his face. Suddenly he heard laughter. He quickly opened his eyes and saw a tall, blond man wearing a black trench coat. "Vash?" Vash smiled and gave the love and peace sign. "What are you doing in Raymond's trench coat?" asked Nicholas as he and Vash sat at an outside table with an ice cream cone in each hand. All the children were running around them, eating ice cream. "Well you see they are looking for a tall man in a black trench coat with black hair and a tall man with blond hair in a red trench coat. So Raymond came up with this idea to switch coats for a little while and lay low", replied Vash as he smiled at Wolfwood. "What?" asked Wolfwood, "Is there something on my face?" Vash fell down laughing, "Oops", he said as the ice cream fell onto the yellow sand, he looked at it then back at Nicholas and burst out laughing again. Nicholas ran over to a tub of water and looked into it. "VASH!" he screamed as he saw that Vash and the children had drawn glasses and a mustache on his face.

Meanwhile across the city, looking into a small bakery stood a tall man in a red trench coat with short, spiky, black hair. He yawned and ran his fingers through his hair. Suddenly there was the sound of a gun being cocked. "Ok Mr. Stampede, we have you surrounded so if you try anything funny, well let us just say that the reward is dead or alive", said an old man with a shotgun. Raymond fell backwards onto the ground and after the dust settled he looked up at the old man. "Who do you think I am?" asked Raymond. "Why you are none other then the infamous Vash the Stampede, the Humanoid Typhoon, and I am going to take you in for the reward and for revenge of my son who was found dead in the desert", said the old man, holding the gun steady. "Two things, one, I am not Vash the Stampede. Vash has blond hair and a different looking face then mine. Two Vash did not kill your son and his three friends", said Raymond coolly. "How, how did you know he was killed with his three friends?" asked the man now scared as Raymond slowly rose and reached out, taking hold of the barrel of the gun. The man gasped as Raymond's other hand gripped the back of his head and forced the barrel of the shotgun into the old timer's mouth. Raymond smiled as his red eyes twinkled, the man cried and cried out the best he could.

Sweat slowly dripped off of Vash's brow, the hot afternoon sun beat down on him and his opponent. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on something else, his muscles aching from the stress and pain. He was running out of strength and breath fast. He groaned as he pushed with all of his might but he just could not handle it, he was losing and losing it fast. Finally he just could not take it anymore and fell with a slam. Nicholas laughed. "It seems that I have won Mr. Stampede", he said victoriously. Vash rubbed his wrist. "Yeah, yeah you are the better arm wrestler", said Vash disappointed with himself. Suddenly something slammed into Vash and he went crashing backwards. Wolfwood jumped up quickly, knocking over his chair. He looked at Vash who's hands were locked in place against his side as Milly's stunbullet was holding him closed.

"There you are!" shouted an angry Meryl as Milly lowered her stungun. "Hey girls", said Wolfwood as he rubbed his head. "Mr. Preacher!" shouted out Milly as she ran over to him. Meryl walked over to a dizzy Vash. "Where did you run off to? you left Milly and I in January and then came over 1000 miles to February just to play around with Mr. Wolfwood? Who do you think you are?" asked Meryl, really pissed off.. Vash shook the surprise attack off and sighed. "I did not mean to abandon you two I did not even know if you two were still alive or dead", said Vash, trying to explain. "So you left us for dead and left creating a huge hole in the surrounding maze?" asked Meryl interrupting. "Well actually I met the person that caused all the chaos, the infamous Raymond the Mankiller and we left together", finished Vash, "He is not a bad guy and does not like killing" "What happened to your red coat?" asked Milly. "Oh well since both Raymond and I are wanted we decided to switch coats and… what the heck?", said Vash as he pulled out two boxes of bullets. "Where did those come from?" asked Wolfwood. "I do not know", replied Vash, "There seems to be a lot of pockets with bullets in them here. so this is where all his bullets comes from. The evil part of him must be keeping this secret from the good part of him", said Vash out loud as a body flew, crashing into the table.

The old man's body twitched as it slowly finished dying, his brains were blown out as was most of his upper face. Meryl screamed. On top of a nearby building stood Raymond in Vash's red trench coat. "Look it is Vash the Stampede! Up there on the roof", shouted a young man. People started screaming and running around. "Maybe switching coats was not the greatest idea", said Wolfwood, "Now everyone thinks you don't just destroy towns but you kill innocent people too". Vash growled then ran over to the building, going inside. A few minutes later he was on the roof staring across it looking at Raymond who had his back towards him. Vash pulled out his handgun and aimed it at Raymond. He took off the safety as Raymond spoke. "So Vash are you going to attack me while my back is turned? That is pretty cowardly", said Raymond with a laugh. "You are not Raymond, you are the Mankiller and you must be stopped", said Vash, "Now come with me, we will leave this place so that you wont kill anyone else". "Vash I don't plan on killing anyone today", said Raymond as he turned around, "For it is you that will be doing the killing!" With that he charged towards Vash. Vash stumbled back but prepared to fire into Raymond's arm, hoping to stop him with suddenly, two blades tore out of both of Raymond's forearms. Raymond swung around so his was backwards and swung the blade. He ended up behind Vash smiling as the top of his gun fell onto the ground with a soft clink.

Vash was horrified as he saw that Raymond had activated his Angel Arms attack. The same attack that destroyed both August and July. "You want to destroy the Mankiller so much Vash, well here I am. All you have to do is use Angel Arms on me and I will die. But I will also be taking Raymond with me", shouted Raymond as he laughed. The energy was building up fast and there was nothing Vash could do to prevent it from firing. His eyes went wide as he roared and aimed towards the sky.

The light was so blinding as the legendary weapon known as Angel Arms was being released right in front of Wolfwood's eyes. The first thought that went into his head was, "Oh shit, the children, that attack could kill all the children". Vash was on his back, his feet were up against the bottom of the Angel Arms, trying to make sure that the blast went up into the air and not towards anyone else. "How did he know about my Angel Arms attack?" thought Vash panicked, "He has to have met Knives at least once before meeting me otherwise there is no possible way". Vash's thoughts were suddenly interrupted as Raymond slowly walked over to him. He sighed and knelt down next to Vash. He closed his eyes, sat down and opened his eyes again. "You know what Vash? You have a lot of guts, first you try to stop me, then you try to make sure no one gets hurt by aiming towards the sky and finally you think you can avoid Knives by running away from him. This is so insane of you".

**Some Town on the other side of the planet, 200 years ago**

A younger Raymond the Mankiller walked into a large hanger. "An airport hanger? What an interesting place to have a meeting, Knives", said Raymond quietly as he was looking at the ground. "All of these stuff is outdated, old, worth nothing. Like the filthy humans that roam this planet, destroying everything in their path", said Knives, "I used to think that I was all alone on this planet with my brother. That it was just him and I and all those filthy humans, but then I learned about you, the infamous Mankiller. You are the one person with the most kills in their lifetime but yet you have not bounty on your head like my brother. But that is only because you have killed all those that have witnessed your power". "What do you want with me? You said you knew how I can control my body again, is that true?" asked Raymond a little louder then before. "Yes but first I want you to.."

**February**

"How do you know Knives? Answer me!" shouted Vash angrily. "Well you could say that Knives hired me to take care of you", replied Raymond as he lay back, resting his head on his hands. "The light is actually quite beautiful if you take a moment to stop and watch", said Raymond quietly. "What are you talking about you fool? This light is able to bring town entire towns, kill thousands more then you will ever!" That caused Raymond to snap, he jumped up and pulled out a gun that looked exactly like Vash's handgun except it was black. "Knives", muttered Vash as he saw what Raymond was doing. Raymond roared, "No Vash I am the Mankiller and I alone will slay everyone in this town". With that he threw off Vash's red trench coat ran over to the side of the building and aimed Knives' gun down at the large gathered crowd, including Milly, Nicholas and Meryl.

Nicholas was the first person to see the anger and pain in Raymond's eyes, he grabbed both the girl's hands and started running. "Where are we going Mr. Preacher?" asked a confused Milly. "Angel Arms", was Nicholas' two word response. The threesome ran as fast as they could to the outskirts of the town. When they got there Meryl freed herself from Nicholas' grasp. "Is this not far enough?" she asked out of breath. "You know what happened to July and August? Well it's about to happen here as well except people will die here!" shouted Nicholas. "By Mr. Vash?" asked Milly sadly. "No by Raymond the Mankiller", replied Nicholas as he grabbed both of the girls hands and continued running.

Back at the building where Vash and Raymond were it was as if the entire town was there watching the light given off by Vash's Angel Arms. Raymond grinned and shouted to all of them, "You like that light show? Well for your viewing pleasure here is the finale". Raymond laughed as the top of Knives' handgun flew off and the gun spread out along his arm creating a second Angel Arms attack. "No!" screamed Vash. "What can I do to make it so you do not kill all of them?" asked Vash pleadingly. "Not a damn thing", said Raymond as he prepared to fire. "NO!" roared Vash as he dropped his feet to the ground and lowered his Angel Arms, "I will not let you kill them!" Suddenly Vash's attack was ready to go and he fired. Raymond was only able to step back and open his mouth in an attempt to scream.  
The people that were watching started running as the blast hit Raymond in his chest. The shot did not explode right there, it carried Raymond on it all the way across town, away from the people, away from Nicholas and the girls, into nothing but a few houses which shattered as his body flew through them, he ended up crashing into the western well. Tears ran down Vash's face as he screamed firing the second shot. The explosion was huge, one that could have easily wiped out the entire town instead of only destroying the empty part of the town. Vash was still crying as he slowly stood up and looked at the destruction that Angel Arms created. He reached up and wiped the tears away with his sleeve. He then looked at the arm of the black coat and remembered that this was Raymond's coat, he had just killed Raymond the Mankiller.

He wept quietly but stopped when he saw a flash of light. His eyes went wide as he saw black energy gathering in the rubble. "Raymond", he said quietly as he turned and tore out of there. He ran across the roof tops and jumped across a gap in the houses when the blast was fired. From across the town, Knives' Angel Arms attack was fired. While in the air going from one house to the next, Vash was hit and sent crashing into a house. He landed with a thud and skid across the ground till he hit the wall, but that did not matter since in a flash, the house was destroyed along with the rest of the town. When Raymond's attack hit a blast of light was shot out in all directions as houses around it were torn apart.

On the edge of town Nicholas and the girls watched each explosion in horror. "What, what just happened?" asked Meryl. "It seems like someone, the person who fired the first Angel Arms attack sent the second person flying across town, destroying that entire section. I believe that most of the towns people got out before the second shot was fired by the almost dead second guns man", explained Nicholas. "You mean those shots killed Mr. Vash?" asked Milly scared. "It is possible", replied Nicholas. "NO!" scream Meryl, "He has survived worse things then this, I mean he could not be dead", she said as she fell to her knees. She was crying. "This should be when Vash leaves the town of rubble with not a scratch on him and the other guns man in hands but this time I do not think our friend is so lucky". "Do not say that Mr. Wolfwood, please don't say that", said Meryl between tears. Milly hugged her as they all look at the destroyed town. "Knives are you happy now? Are you happy with your brother's death? I know you are crying but are they tears of joy, or sorrow?" thought Nicholas Wolfwood.

"Laying there in the rubble of another town, I saw many things. The worse thing I saw however was the image of the one known as the Mankiller in where he fought against a small army of bandits. How this image got into my head, I do not know but what happened to Raymond that day, well it explains a little bit about why he wants me…"

Raymond The Mankiller


End file.
